step from M9 to M type240 - your experience?

[jonoslack]

That critical bayer-less detail is what blows me away every time. The M has plenty of resolution, however, and the DR is much much improved over the M9 (and the MM in highlights), from what I have seen. Truth be told, if I weren't getting married and had those finances to consider, I'd be all over an M and would have tried my best to figure it out (I adjust colors anyways, so it would just be a new work flow)....that being said, the M9 and MM work very well together as a 1-2 punch, despite their quirks...but the M240 may be a better option for those looking for one solution.

Okay, shutting my trap now and off to work to inject some joints....I'm better at that anyways

You must be REALLY good at injecting joints then!

Any time I need a joint injected I'm coming to see you.

I was joking - Jaap and I have both been hat eating (I bought an MM, and he bought an M) They are both worth it!

all the best

 

[sjg284]

Can anyone quantify how much better the ISO is for their uses?
What was your "comfortable max" ISO for M9 and now M240 by comparison?

 

[TLiu]

Can anyone quantify how much better the ISO is for their uses?
What was your "comfortable max" ISO for M9 and now M240 by comparison?

About 2 stops better I think, i.e., ISO3200 on M is about on par with ISO800 on M9. I read somewhere mentioning 1.5stops improvement, so YMMV.

 

[algrove]

Love my M9P, and even more so the MM. I Hope to have an M someday, once the kinks are worked out, but it may be a long time to get on a list and wait....a year at this point, so maybe an M240P ....I would like to see a WB, color tweak....

I love my MM and even more so my M for color. What you ask for is coming as I was just in Solms and had some good assurances.

Wait til you get an APO 50 and try it on the MM and then the M. Seems I would leave it on all the time, but with two bodies what do I do? Get two. So be it. Done.

 

[jonoslack]

I love my MM and even more so my M for color. What you ask for is coming as I was just in Solms and had some good assurances.

Wait til you get an APO 50 and try it on the MM and then the M. Seems I would leave it on all the time, but with two bodies what do I do? Get two. So be it. Done.

. . . . Hi There . . . . I hope you had a fine time in Solms . . . do you really have two 50 apo 'crons - I'm deeply in awe if you do!

 

[wentbackward]

Mine will arrive in a week or so ... but ...

What about cyan/magenta corners? Has anyone tried the CV 12 or CV 15?

 

[jaapv]

The camera is certainly not be optimized for third party lenses. You will still need to do a flat field correction in postprocessing for the lenses you mention.

 

[Vivek]

. . . . Hi There . . . . I hope you had a fine time in Solms . . . do you really have two 50 apo 'crons - I'm deeply in awe if you do!

If he does, then it would be worth to stack them up to do close ups and macros.

 

[Paratom]

Hi again,
I have had the new M now for 3 days...here is my experience:
-it feels clearly heavier, no problem but I have to get used to it
-I allways thought higher ISO of the M9 is ok for me, but going up to ISO 3200 and still getting good IQ gives more freedom in low light. Just more room to shoot handhold in lower light without having to fully open the lens. DOF is not dictated by amount of light available any more. great
-shutter feel is very nice
-I have checked my main lenses and they all seem to focus fine on my new M body. +
-I have to get used to the places of the buttons and wheels. I hit life view by mistake a couple of times. Also the pressing the front button and turning the wheel for exp comp doesn't feel very natural. But its ok.
-IQ: so far I like what I see quite a bit. For sure the color can be optimized but it is far from not being good IMO (lenses I have used: 35fle, 50/1.4asph, 75/2.0 and 21/3.4)
I really like the 35fle on the new M. The 35mm frames nearly fill the whole viewfinder.

Overall: I have the feeling that I made the right decision for me, I don't think it will take much more time until my M9 will be up for sale (I found the M9 allways great, and the M seems even "greater")

I don't intend to do much with life view. The optical viewfinder and the rangefinder are the big reasons why I want to use this system (and the IQ of course).
However as mentioned before from someone else: lifeview seems a great feature for checking focus accurancy of lenses.

 

[Bob]

That critical bayer-less detail is what blows me away every time. The M has plenty of resolution, however, and the DR is much much improved over the M9 (and the MM in highlights), from what I have seen. Truth be told, if I weren't getting married and had those finances to consider, I'd be all over an M and would have tried my best to figure it out (I adjust colors anyways, so it would just be a new work flow)....that being said, the M9 and MM work very well together as a 1-2 punch, despite their quirks...but the M240 may be a better option for those looking for one solution.

Okay, shutting my trap now and off to work to inject some joints....I'm better at that anyways

 

[ashwinrao1]

Lol, nice Bob. She's quite modest, but yes, my days of spending big in Leica will be scattered a bit further apart now....

 

[Auni]

Now that more and more people have used the new M for some time I would like to ask how you feel about the switch.
-was it worth it (for you)?
-which are most important improvements (for you)
-do you like the files as much as the M9files (or better)?

Back to the original posters questions:

-For me, it was worth it. The M9 was always a nice camera, but had limitations. The M addresses these issues pretty well.

-The most important improvements are in ISO and dynamic range. The sensor is far and away better than the CCD M9. Although, some noise has been made on the forums about color, I find it to be improved as well. Leica should be releasing a new firmware version to address WB and color issues shortly. LV ability greatly expands the M's usefulness in many situations and with a wide variety of lenses. The improvement of the battery life is also very important to me.

-The files are very much improved. This is on of the most important points for me. Dynamic Range and high ISO improvements are stunning. This has to be one of the top 4 best 35mm sensors on the market. File quality is a big improvement over the M9.